Social Honeycomb

State of the Blogosphere 2008: One Girl’s Impressions

Some of us have been wondering what the hepcat Technorati has been doing lately, and it seems they’ve been working on the State of the Blogosphere 2008 report, the first installment of which actually imparts some very interesting tidbits.  Here’s what jumped out at me:

Blurry Lines

I really like the section of the report about the lines blurring between blogs and mainstream media. By now, unless you’ve been hibernating while living in a cave that’s under a rock, you know that blogs are viable media outlets and sources of information, entertainment and inspiration, and contribute greatly to the colorful media landscape we get to enjoy today.

As a young PR pro, I am sometimes baffled to hear of clients who so sharply draw a line between traditional and new media outlets, and want their dollars to pay for only one or the other. The reality is that there is no one or the other anymore. It’s becoming harder and harder to justify separating the two into distinct categories, which is brought to light by Technorati, “Larger blogs are taking on more characteristics of mainstream sites and mainstream sites are incorporating styles and formats from the Blogosphere. In fact, 95% of the top 100 US newspapers have reporter blogs.” Let’s face it: mainstream is one ingredient and blogs are another–they mix well and all belong in the same online alphabet soup.

Yes, People Are Talking About Brands

It’s been said a googolplex times. People. Are. Already. Talking. About. Your. Brand. The blogosphere gives you so many opportunities to jump in and talk with people who are already discussing your brand, your company, your product, your whatever. And they have been for some time now, in lots of places and in lots of ways. The ’sphere just makes it easier for you to dive in and participate, too. I think the report captures it: “Whether or not a brand has launched a social media strategy, more likely than not, it’s already present in the Blogosphere. Four in five bloggers post brand or product reviews, with 37% posting them frequently. 90% of bloggers say they post about the brands, music, movies and books that they love (or hate).”

And with 1.5 million blog entries posted in the last 7 days, on some of the 133 million blog records indexed on Technorati since 2002, that’s a lot of brand-centered conversation you might be missing. Don’t miss out.

Girls Against the Boys

For some unknown and slightly annoying reason, I’m always interested in gender and the behavioral factors that divide and unite the sexes. The State of the Blogosphere report shows a table with a gender-focused data breakdown which I think is pretty neat. I find it extremely interesting that only 9 percent of female and 15 percent of male bloggers surveyed were between the ages of 18-24. I had no idea I was in such a tiny minority of the age slice of the blogging population. I think people often think that blogging, Web 2.0 and all those crazy social networks are dominated young people, and that the 18-24 crowd is at the forefront of these sociotechnological trends. (And yes, that’s really a word.) It’s clearly a very misguided and skewed perception.

Have you checked the report out? Looks like there’s more to come, so I’m interested to see what else T’rati has to say. Did anything surprise you?

Photo: “Blurry Lights” by gregverdino (but really taken by me!)